In an industry filled with competitors the likes of Optum, CVS Health and Amazon, leaders of health organizations are increasingly concerned about non-hospital competition from the tech-centric consumer companies.

In a recent report from Kaufman Hall, 88% of U.S. hospital and health system executives believe that their organizations are vulnerable to non-hospital competitors. The fourth annual Kaufman Hall report about the state of consumerism in healthcare ranked participating organizations based on an overall measure of how well they are meeting the demands across consumer access, experience, pricing and infrastructure.

Many of the top worries of health system executives stem directly from their tech capabilities, the report said.

Nearly all (98%) of respondents said their organizations’ digital experience is either somewhat or significantly worse than Amazon’s. And one-third of respondents said they would trust Google, Amazon or Apple over healthcare providers or insurers to develop the best online tools.

Hospitals are aware that their tools are lagging behind, and 81% of those surveyed identified improving the customer experience as a high priority. Only 11% said they already had good customer service resources in place.

For example, 66% of organizations offer some or no opportunities for real-time patient feedback. And half of these organizations offer no real-time updates on in-office wait times, while 38% offer this information on a limited basis.

Chris currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Surgio Health as well as Chief Operating Officer at Ortho Spine Partners.
Prior to that, he was the assistant vice president and business unit leader of Medical Device Management for HealthTrust Purchasing Group (HPG).